A funeral was held on Monday for Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Laureate poet who died on Friday aged 74. The funeral, which was held in Dublin's Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, held a congregation of Irish politicians, poets and novelists, former Lebanese hostage Brian Keenan and Bono and The Edge from U2.

U2 frontman Bono arrives at Seamus Heaney's funeral (PA)

Ireland's foremost uilleann piper, Liam O'Flynn, played a wailing lament before family members and friends offered a string of readings from the Bible and their own often lyrical remembrances of the country's most celebrated writer of the late 20th century. The 90-minute service ended with a cellist's rendition of the childhood bedtime classic, Brahms's "Lullaby".

Heaney's three children and wife were among his relatives in attendance. His son Michael revealed his final words during a tribute read from the pulpit: a text message from his hospital bed to his wife, Marie.

Michael Heaney said the words were "written a few minutes before he passed away, were in his beloved Latin. And they read: 'Noli timere.' Don't be afraid." That revelation opened a ripple of tears in the audience, including from Marie and their only daughter, Catherine, in the front row beside the flower-topped coffin.

Michael and Christopher, Heaney's other son, carried his coffin from the church. Hundreds of people spontaneously applauded as his casket emerged into the light. The funeral cortege faced a several-hour drive north from Dublin to Heaney's family home in Bellaghy, a village in Northern Ireland that was the fountainhead for much of his work. He is to be buried in the family plot in Bellaghy's cemetery.

In Belfast, at Queen's University, a Book of Condolence has been opened for the public to come and share their tributes to Heaney.